Abstract

This paper examines the relation between the publisher, editor and contents of the trade union press. It fo-cuses on in which degree the publisher determines the editorial content and on the significance of the edito-rial responsibility conditions. The examination starts from the journalistic paradigm ‘the news paradigm’. According to this paradigm the journalist is serving the public and therefore has to be independent and critical.
The examination is in two parts. The first part examines the editors understanding of how much the pub-lishers determine the editorial content. Part two is a content analysis, which examines in which degree and in what ways the publishers are exposed in the magazines. The exposition of the publishers is taken as an indicator of the publishers’ determination of the editorial content.
The conclusion is that the editors experience a distinct grade of self-determine and that the journalism is critical towards the publishers. There is a tendency towards less experience of self-determination on the magazines where the publisher is responsible, than on the magazines, where the editor is responsible. The content analysis shows that the texts contain several indicators that the publishers determine a great amount of the editorial content. However, this is most distinct in the magazine where the editor is responsible. The two parts show that there is not any clear-cut connection between the editorial responsibility conditions and how much the publishers determine the editorial content.
The examination also indicates that the magazines are raising the publishers profile and that the editors at the same time seek to make journalism that is critical towards the publisher. This is interpreted as the edi-tors attempt to balance between two different expectations to the journalism: the publishers wish to get the profile raised in the magazines and the journalists wish to serve the public and be critical towards the pub-lisher.
In the paper the possibility to solve this balance problem by thinking journalism differently is discussed. It is argued that the journalists have to see themselves as part of the trade unions instead of detached spectators. And it is suggested that the journalists and the leaders of the trade unions cooperate on concrete and spe-cific guidelines for the journalism in the trade union press